Why Did You Do It?
by CainaStarsong
Summary: Harry wonders why Percy split from the family, and the answer was not what he expected.


A/N Damn, this was fun to write. I'm so upset about all the Percy Hate. He was never my favorite, but some people really hate him! And he has some reasons for doing the things he did!

Disclaimer: Damn. I want this to go away so bad, to be like, "Ha, yes, this is mine!"

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><p>"Hi," Harry said, surprised, as Percy stepped out into the garden of the burrow, wearing an old Gryffindor house shirt and nearly tripping over him.<p>

"Oh," Percy looked faintly embarrassed. "I didn't know you were out here." He made to duck back through the doorway, but Harry shrugged and said it was alright, he didn't mind.

Harry had never really liked Percy all that much. He had been too proud of his achievements, too big-headed, and Harry could never imagine abandoning his family like Percy had done. He was fine, and nice at sometimes, but most of the time, they just weren't on great terms. There were times when Harry rudely wondered why Percy was in Gryffindor, instead of Slytherin, as the house of the snake was for the cunning, and the ambitious.

Percy was sitting on the bench, and he was surprised when Harry sat next to him. Most of the family did not interact with Percy much, and Ginny almost completely ignored him, and everyone tip-toed around his betrayal.

"Why'd you do it?" Harry asked.

Percy looked surprised, then thoughtful, but knew what Harry was talking about. "It'll seem stupid to you," he said, "For several reasons. It's also a rather long explanation."

Harry shrugged. He expected nothing less from Percy.

"I'm sure that you, Harry, would never have left your family like I did. Maybe it's because you haven't felt inferior as much as I have. And, sorry if this seems rude, you've never had a family to leave, besides the Weasleys. But I could leave them for two reasons, mainly. The first is because I've always felt like I was nothing against my brothers."

Harry nodded. Ron had felt like that too, throughout several years.

"I've _always_ felt inferior to my brothers. I still do." Percy snorted. "I'm sure you haven't much idea what it's like to feel completely and utterly inferior. You're Harry Potter. A star since you were only a year old. Yes, I understand you didn't want to be famous," he added when Harry opened his mouth. "But you were. So you've never felt as much as I did the need to be better."

"I'm sure Ron had told you that sometimes he feels inferior to all his brothers. Bill was a prefect, Head Boy, and had 12 top O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.s, Charlie was a prefect, and a great Seeker and the Quidditch Captain too." Harry thought back to the Mirror of Erised as Percy continued. "I wasn't better just because I got those titles. I had to get those titles so I could be equal. I wasn't new or original. Just measuring up. And I had to brag about it to make sure people knew that I wasn't worse than my brothers."

Harry did see how Percy could have felt like he needed to be better than his siblings.

"So can you see how when I came home, with a really good promotion, an achievement, something I hoped my family would be proud of, something that I expected to be congratulated for, and got told it wasn't an accomplishment at all, it didn't go well?"

"It was true, though!" Harry said.

"Does that matter much?" Percy said simply, "Yes, it was true, of course it was, but it still hurt. And of course I was going to give the Ministries my loyalty – they gave me a new opportunity, they treat me well, and that's something, especially when my family doesn't even pretend to be happy for me. When even my own family doesn't treat me well, or like me."

"Your family likes you," Harry said automatically.

"They do not. It's the second reason I left. They think I'm pompous, and a prat, too ambitious, stubborn, and annoying, and it's true, which just means they don't like me because of who I am." Percy said, then added, "Well, except Mum. I'd like to think she loves me."

"They don't hate you!"

Percy gave him a calculating look. "How many times have Fred and George teased me? Even for asking a question. They sent me dragon dung at my work. Do you remember, when I asked why the Ministry was sending cars for us, back in your third year? I just asked a question, something I might have realized, but it was still a legitimate question. Fred and George made fun of me, and even my own father laughed into his pudding. I even kept my relationship with Penelope secret for half of it. I knew Fred and George, most likely Ron and Ginny, and then probably Charlie and Bill had they been nearby, would have teased me mercilessly."

"But that's just teasing;" Harry said slowly, hoping it was true, "Fred and George teased Ron all the time."

Percy nodded. "It's a normal enough thing. Most of the family just took it much too far, past the line that was acceptable. There's a fine line between a good joke and making someone feel like a pile of dragon dung."

"They don't hate you." Harry said, a little bit panicked.

"No, not hate. But, we can all admit it, that I'm their least favorite. When I had that row with Dad – and yes, I can admit that was my fault - the only person who came to try and tried to reconcile was Mum. I knew, without a doubt, that the rest of the family hated me then. If Mum, the only person who cared about in me in the first place, had come and confirmed that she hated me too, which could likely have happened, I might have broken down. And if she hadn't, if she had tried to get me to come back, I would have, because I love my mother, and wanted to make her happy. I would have gone back, and be treated worse than I had been already for her sake. So I didn't give her a chance to ask."

Harry felt slightly sick. "They'd have forgiven you." He said desperately.

"Have you noticed the Weasley's are very stubborn? All of us?" Percy said conversationally, "There's no way they would have forgiven me that easily."

Harry did not like this conversation.

"I'm fairly certain that if, say, Bill or Ron had left like that, after a huge row with Dad, and completely splitting from the family, everyone else would have gone after them, tried to contact them. But they didn't, because they didn't much like who I was already."

Harry almost didn't want to say anything, but then he said, "But you did reconcile, at the Battle of Hogwarts, right?"

Percy shrugged. "As much as I like to count that, sometimes I can't. They thought that I should have left the Ministry earlier, and I would have, but Scrimgeour was a good minister. Even if he said things that you didn't agree with, Harry, you can understand, at least, why he said them?" And Harry nodded. "And I had no choice after the Ministry fell. To leave would be considered traitorous, the Death Eaters might have even hunted me down, and it's not as if I had any family I could go to, to protect me, not that they would have before I left."

"And at Hogwarts, I walk back in, obviously ready to give my life for a situation where you really can't be choosy about the wands that are helping – you just needed as many as you can get. And everyone freezes, glares at me like I should just _leave_. It took Fred laying down the terms, calling me, something that I had to agree that I was before anyone would forgive me, and I did, because I wanted things to be alright. But they still aren't. The family may not hate me now, but they still don't like me."

"Fred and George, maybe, were perhaps the ones that hated me the least, since they pretended the whole thing never happened when I apologized. Or maybe they just didn't want to see the family broken apart. It didn't matter, the family is still broken. I think I'm going to go get something to eat, before I Apparate to London; it's later than I thought. Bye, Harry."

He stepped back into the house, while Harry leaned over on the bench, feeling about ready to cry. He could hear Mrs. Weasley talking to Percy, who answered back, sounding utterly fine, in control. Harry wondered how he could even talk about it so nonchalantly. That was why Percy was a Gryffindor, Harry mused, because the black haired teen doubted that he could be brave enough to walk into a family that hated him and pretend it was all right, just for their sakes. It was brave to try and reconcile, even if they didn't want to. It was brave that he had finally been able to leave because he was who he was.

It must have hurt Percy even more so, because Percy loved his family so much. Watching out for Ginny her first year at Hogwarts, closing himself up in the dormitory after Ginny was taken into the Chamber, sending Ron a letter full of (bad) advice, that was meant to help and written with good intentions.

"Good-bye, Ginny," Percy said, as Harry stepped inside the Burrow, "Say bye to George and Ron for me, will you?" Ginny set her mouth in a line, but nodded stonily.

"Don't do that," Harry said, "Please."

Ginny looked startled, enough to pause in front of the stairs, and trip Ron and George who were coming down them. "Do what?"

"Don't be so mean to Percy," Harry said, "Just stop being so rude to him. You're his family." He picked up the plates on the table, and carried them to the kitchen.

"But he left us!" Ron said rudely.

"Because no one liked him much," Harry pointed out, "Did any of you try and talk to him, get him to come back to the family after he left? You were all probably okay with the fact he left. A little upset, but mainly you didn't care. Did any of you ever talk to him, in a conversation where you didn't tease him endlessly?"

Ginny opened her mouth to say something, but Harry added, "And he's back here now, pretending that things between all of you and him are okay. But they're not. He's trying to reconcile with you, because he loves you, and he _knows_ you all still basically loathe him. He's pretending that it is all okay for your sakes. Not for himself. He walked into a family that _hates_ him just to try and make things right because he loves you. And you all repay him by blatantly hating him. I just cannot believe that this is what family is about."

He set the plates down in the kitchen sink and banged back down into the garden. Percy Apparated next to him. "Hello, Harry," he said, "I realized that I forgot my bag here."

He strode into the kitchen, where his siblings were huddled. He reached across the table, for his bag, when Ginny said, "It's not true, is it? That you think we hate you?"

Percy looked startled, before turning and staring directly at Harry. "No," he said slowly, "I know that we're family, and that we have some sort of bond, but I've never deluded myself into believing that someone besides Mum would be too torn up about me leaving. I know that I've never, been well liked."

George was the first to say something. "I'm so sorry, Perce," he said, but Ginny seemed to have given up on her stubborn persona for once, and reached over and hugged Percy.

"I'm sorry too," she said into his shoulder, "I promise, Percy, I don't hate you. Sometimes yoy annoy me, but I could never hate you. I swear, I'll stop being so mean." Ginny rarely cried, but her family was most important to her, and there were tears in her eyes.

Percy, looking over her head, at Harry, mouthed 'thank you.'

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><p>Okay, I can admit this was a far stretch in some places, but still. There is sooo much Percy hate, and come on. Really? He didn't do anything that bad! His family was so horrible to him at times. I exaggerated in places to prove my point, but still. People hate Percy more than Bellatrix, and that's not okay!<p> 


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